sugar cravings

My interview on anxiety on The Candida Summit with host Evan Brand, addresses anxiety, the tie in to low serotonin and the sugar cravings aspect. I was so excited to find a connection between serotonin and candida and share this in our interview.

with low serotonin you’ve got the mental anxiety – the worry, the ruminating thoughts, the obsessive thinking, the reprocessing, insomnia, lying awake in bed, trying to shut down the busy mind. And the two amino acids I use for this is tryptophan; that’s my first choice. And my second choice is 5-HTP. That being said, some people do better on one versus the other.

The reason I like tryptophan is 5-HTP can raise cortisol and make people who are wired/tired feel a little bit more wired/tired. So until I’ve seen cortisol results in saliva, I like to use tryptophan first.

But let me share some of this interesting research that I’ve found. And why I’m so excited about it is because as I said earlier, I will use the amino acids first before I’m specifically addressing the candida. But it seems like using tryptophan first, as well as helping with the low serotonin, it’s starting to have an impact on the candida, which I didn’t know about, until I did the research for this. So thank you for inviting me to speak. It just reinforces what I know about the amino acids – that they are pretty powerful.

There was a study done in 2003, and the title is Antifungal Properties of Serotonin Against Candida species. And they looked at various different candida strains: albicans, glabrata, tropicalis, and a few others. And they exposed these candida strains to serotonin. The study concludes: “Serotonin showed antifungal activity towards all isolates of candida.”

What they didn’t know is what the mechanism of action was. They stated: “Identifying the mode of action would be of great help in developing and research new antifungal drugs.” I don’t agree with that. I’m just excited to see that there is this connection with serotonin, which reinforces how beneficial tryptophan is.

Of course, my solution is to provide serotonin support via diet, exercise and the use of the targeted individual amino acid tryptophan or 5-HTP.

In our interview I also discuss how I use the amino acids and how tryptophan/5-HTP as well as GABA, DPA, tyrosine and glutamine, can actually help with so much of the sugar craving we see in candida, PLUS how I use this approach to gauge when candida is really serious.

EMFs and the dangers of 5G – and candida

Dr. Schaffner talks about EMFs and the dangers of 5G and shares how they are protecting the Sophia Institute Clinic (which she shares with Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt):

What we have done at the clinic—and again, this is an evolving art—the two things that I think are going to make the most difference in what we can do right now is, first, of course we always say avoid exposure, try to distance yourself. Distance is your friend with any technology, when we’re looking at EMF.

But we actually shielded the clinic. We have a cell phone tower within a mile of the clinic. And so, we wanted to be mindful of that exposure. We ask everybody to turn off their cell phones when they come in to the clinic. And we don’t have Wi-Fi. So everything is ethernet corded. And then, we don’t have cell phone exposure while we’re practicing.

But we do two things that I think people should be aware of. And one is we use a type of graphite paint. It’s called YSHIELD. And that actually comes from Germany. And it has properties to, essentially, try to create a Faraday cage environment and block the incoming microwave radiation. And so, that has to be grounded, of course. And you want to always work with somebody who knows what they’re doing with this technology. Because if you don’t do it right, you can actually increase your exposures or create an unhealthy environment.

And then, Dr. Klinghardt works with the woman who creates these silver-lined curtains that actually help to block the microwave radiation coming in through the windows.

There’s a really great website—LessEMF has a lot of this technology. And then, YSHIELD, you can Google, I think it’s yshield.com. And then, the silver-lined curtains, I believe, is a fabric called, Swiss Shield. And so, you can either make them yourself or hire somebody to do that.

Learn more about candida, low serotonin, low melatonin, and your glymphatic system in the second half of Dr. Schaffner’s interview.

Candida, sugar cravings and COMT and MAOA genes

Evan Brand brings up the topic of sugar and carbs in the diet with Dr. Ben Lynch in the Candida, sugar cravings and COMT and MAOA genesinterview: No one is discussing the influence of the whole epigenetic piece, and how people and their decision making with foods could be influenced by their genes?

Dr. Ben Lynch shares how he has a unique angle on this fascinating topic of our genes and sugar/carb cravings:

It’s one that always ties back to what came first—the chicken or the egg, right? So what came first, the genetic propensity towards carbohydrate binging or addictive personalities for high-caloric dense foods like ice cream and cakes, doughnuts, pastries, which then leads us to candida?

And then, they go on all these candida treatments. And they beat it. And they’re all happy again. But then their genetic propensity drives them yet again for the yeast overgrowth and the food binging.

He gives an example of how some people, when they’re down and out, may be drawn to sugar and carbs to self-medicate (this is something I see with my anxious clients all the time):

They’ll hit the chocolate. They’ll hit the doughnuts, the ice cream to make them feel good. And what these do is they spike your dopamine.

You’re not really aware of it, but you just do it. And you know you shouldn’t do it. But what happens here is, is some individuals, they have genes, which eliminate their dopamine out of their body pretty quickly. This gene is called COMT. And one of its jobs is to move dopamine out. You don’t want to always have neurotransmitters in your brain. That’s not good.

So some of these folks are born with a COMT gene that actually works faster, which is really good because they can calm down really quick in stressful environments. They can perform at a high level in stressful situations like surgeons, or EMT, or firefighters, or policemen, policewomen. They strive in these high-risk, highly-attentive situations.

But when they come home, everything’s a low normal. And they need that hit of dopamine. So they might come home and binge on sugars and carbs to drive their dopamine back up. And that’s a significant one.

Dr Lynch also shares about another gene, MAOA, which deals with our serotonin:

If you have a faster MAOA gene, which moves through your serotonin, then you are craving carbohydrates, and you’re craving pastas, and breads, and all the things that candida love, and beer. These things which increase your tryptophan levels, support your MAOA, and thus your serotonin. These are two major foods that our candida love. And these are two very, very common genes in the population which predispose us to having these issues

Candida testing, parasites and intractable yeast overgrowth

Evan Brand asks this question about candida testing in the Candida, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, and Meditation interview with Dr. Dan Kalish: I’m guessing your statistics are similar to mine, 9 out of every 10 organic acids I find Candida overgrowth. Stool test, the GI map is missing a lot of Candida. Maybe you could help me understand why that’s happening.

Dr. Dan Kalish shares why candida testing can be challenging:

Because Candida can be commensal where it’s growing within the digestive tract itself, or it can be invasive where it penetrates into the tissue of the gut. And then it’s not going to be found in any of the stool tests. So stool tests can miss it easily. And in fact, the more severe it gets, the harder it is to find on a test.

That’s what happens with the yeast when it gets bad. It gets invasive. It goes up into the actual lining of the gut. So if it penetrates there, it causes leaky gut. But then it’s invasive, so it’s penetrating into the tissues. And you’re not going to see it in the stool. And that’s when it gets worse. In fact, it’s going to cause more symptoms. But then it’s almost impossible to find on the stool test.

He also shares this gem about intractable yeast overgrowth that just won’t go away:

You can have a Candida overgrowth, treat it and feel better, but have there be another underlying cause for the Candida. So there’s a lot of patients that will come to me and be like, “I had this Candida overgrowth. As long as I eat this radical and extreme and ridiculous diet, and take all these herbs, I’m fine. But every time I stop, it just comes back.”

Then, that leads the person to assume that it’s this horrific Candida overgrowth that’s never going to go away. And in those patients, there’s almost always Giardia, or Crypto [Cryptosporidium], or E. histo [Entamoeba histolytica], or some other bug that’s screwing up the ecology of the gut that’s allowing the Candida to keep coming back. So that’s just something to be on the lookout for.

If you feel like you have this intractable yeast overgrowth that just won’t go away, you should find a functional medicine doctor and do all the stool testing. Because you’re almost guaranteed there will be some other infection.

Julia Rucklidge, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand and has published a number of studies looking at “micronutrients to treat psychiatric disorders including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), mood disorders, stress, and anxiety,” where benefits were reported. “Despite the positive benefits associated with micronutrients, some factors may limit a positive response, one of which may be the overgrowth of intestinal Candida.”

a number of factors influence optimal response and absorption of nutrients, including the health of the gut, particularly the presence of yeast infections, such as Candida.

As part of a wider investigation into the impact of micronutrients on psychiatric symptoms, many participants who experienced a yeast infection during their treatment showed a diminished response to the micronutrients.

One particular female client was followed for a 3-year period:

Kate (an alias) is a 24-year-old female of European descent who had participated in the 2010 trial by Rucklidge et al using micronutrients for the treatment of ADHD. In the past, she had been prescribed methylphenidate [Ritalin] by a psychiatrist but could not tolerate the side effects.

For just over 2 years, while using the micronutrient, she had no ADHD or mood symptoms, other than a mild increase around her period.

About 2.5 years participating in the trial, Kate started to feel increasingly unwell and reported the following:

(1) a chronic sore throat; (2) a constant runny nose; (3) cramps; (4) itchy toes, anus, and vagina; (5) rashes on her legs and groin area; and (6) an overall flu-like feeling. Concomitantly, all her psychiatric symptoms had returned… She was moody, anhedonic (unable to experience pleasure), and chronically irritable and was having cravings for sugary and starchy foods. Kate visited her family physician, who diagnosed Kate with a vaginal yeast infection

Over the next year, it was found that her psychiatric symptoms (ADHD and mood) got worse when she was infected with Candida and then her ADHD and mood symptoms improved once she was successfully treated with olive leaf extract and probiotics.

The study makes this conclusion about the role of inflammation, gut health and nutrient absorption:

This case outlines that micronutrient treatment might be severely compromised by infections such as Candida and may highlight the importance of gut health when treating psychiatric disorders with nutrients.

Given the role that inflammation can play in absorption of nutrients, it was hypothesized that the infection was impairing absorption of the micronutrients.

The authors also mention the growing body of literature on the gut-brain connection and how

Candida is always considered as one of many possible root causes with my anxious clients – it can contribute to anxiety as well as ADHD and depression, and out-of-control-sugar and intense carb cravings.

Olive leaf extract is one of many approaches for eliminating candida is more commonly used in Australia and New Zealand.

Another approach is to use garlic and oregano to kill the candida. I have great success with these products from Designs for Health:

Allicillin – a garlic product that contains Garlicillin®, a blend of garlic oil and parsley oil with specified levels of garlic sulfides and ajoene, the most bioactive compound formed from garlic and

Oil of Oregano – which has powerful antioxidant and intestinal cleansing benefits. It also helps to maintain a healthy microbial balance. This product is standardized for carvacrol and thymol, the principal phenolic compounds in oregano

Probiotics are also part of the protocol, as are dietary changes. Fresh garlic, onion, daikon, olive oil, coconut oil, lemon, apple cider vinegar, fermented vegetables and coconut oil are all therapeutic foods on an anti-candida diet.

In addition to killing the candida and restoring the good bacteria with probiotics, I also use targeted individual amino acids to help reduce the sugar and carb cravings, making it easier to quit the bread, sugar, cookies, cakes and fruit. These amino acids can also help to alleviate some of the anxiety, mood and ADHD symptoms from day one, offering relief and hope right away since eliminating candida is not a quick process:

tryptophan for afternoon cravings and mental worry (tryptophan also has some direct anti-candida effects – more to come on this in the future blog)

[all of the above supplements, including Allicillin, Oil of Oregano, various probiotics and an olive leaf product, called Olivirex Combination, can be ordered via my online store – details for creating an account on my supplements page. The category once you login is candida/dysbiosis]

Have you experienced anxiety, depression, panic attacks, ADHD and cravings with candida?

Have supplements that worked in the past stop working while you’re dealing with the candida?

Have you found the amino acids to help with anxiety and cravings while you’re addressing your candida?

Today I’m reviewing DPA (or d-phenylalanine) for weepiness, pain and comfort and reward eating. This amino acid is a favorite with so many of my clients because it helps with the above by boosting your endorphins and when you chew a capsule you feel like you just got a big hug. It’s a really good feeling!

I’m also sharing some additional resources for you on DPA.

DPA and endorphins

DPA is an amino acid that destroys the enzyme that breaks down endorphins. Endorphins are feel-good chemicals that you experience with an endorphin rush when you go for a run or when someone gives you a big hug, when you show kindness to someone or someone does something nice for you. Taking the amino acid, DPA, helps to raise your endorphins.

Low endorphins and weepiness

With low endorphins you’re very weepy. You may be overly emotional. If you watched a TV ad or you watched a really sad movie, you may be more prone to crying than the average person.

It’s also known as the break-up pill and is very helpful when going through a relationship split.

Low endorphins and pain

As well as being sensitive to emotional pain (the crying and the weepiness), you also tend to be sensitive to physical pain when endorphins are low.

We know acupuncture raises your endorphin levels and eases pain. Using DPA helps physical pain in a similar way. Pain can be caused by low GABA and low serotonin, an inflammatory diet, a high oxalate diet or nightshades, something physical like a fall, osteoarthritis or an autoimmune condition like rheumatoid arthritis. If there is also a low endorphin aspect to your pain, DPA can provide some pain reduction.

Low endorphins and comfort/reward eating

Another symptom of low endorphins is comfort/reward eating. You may relate to the term emotional eating. It often goes like this: “This is my reward. This is my treat. I absolutely deserve it.”

And when you consume those carbohydrates – that bowl of ice cream, that bowl of cereal, that chocolate chip cookie, that chocolate cup-cake – you feel like “this is my reward, this comforts me.” When you use DPA you can literally take it or leave it. Really!

DPA is one of the amino acids that help you easily quit sugar without having to use massive willpower and without feeling deprived. The best way to figure it out is to do the amino acid mood questionnaire

Last week I provided a summary for you – here it is again

if you have to eat sugar when you haven’t eaten in awhile it’s likely low blood sugar and glutamine on the tongue stops the sugar desire on the spot

if you stress-eat your sugar cravings are likely due to low GABA, and GABA will stop the stress-eating and calm you down

if you eat sugar or carbs to feel happy (and especially from late afternoon onwards) then your sugar cravings are likely due to low serotonin, and tryptophan stops the cravings and boosts mood and reduces anxiety

if you eat sugar for an energy boost then it’s likely due to low catecholamines and tyrosine will stop those cravings and give you a mood and energy boost

if you are a comfort-eater or big emotional eater, then it’s likely due to low endorphins and DPA will stop that “I deserve-it-reward-eating” and also give you a hug-like mood boost

And remember it’s not unusual to need to address all areas. You can have low GABA anxiety and low endorphins too and low blood sugar. If this is the case I have my clients address one at a time.

If addressing low endorphins helps reduce or eliminate the reward eating and helps you eat less or no sugar it means less impact on your adrenals and more even blood sugar levels and therefore less anxiety too.

I have one DPA product I use with clients all the time:

Lidtke Endorphigen 500mg: Riboflavin 5mg, Pyridoxal 5-phosphate 5mg (enzymatic form of vitamin B6), D-Phenylalanine 500mg. This is one of my top products that I recommend. This comes in a gelatin capsule and tastes quite pleasant when chewed – some people think it has a dark chocolate-like taste. A few people don’t like the taste at all but it can still be very effective when low endorphins are an issue.

As with all the amino acids, when using DPA:

Start low (500mg is a typical starting dose) and increase as needed.

Do a trial to determine if the emotional eating is due to low endorphins. I always do this with clients before starting any amino acid. Be sure to read how to do an amino acid trial. It has the amino acid questionnaire, the precautions and information on how to use targeted individual amino acids.

Take between meals and away from protein for the best effects

I do find that chewing it provides the quickest results and do find it much more effective than DPLA which I no longer recommend or use.

Do you believe that you can actually make sugar cravings go away without massive willpower or without feeling deprived? I’m going to tell you that is really is possible no matter how crazy it sounds! And share how to do it!

Lisa shares such a great description of how we get a hit of dopamine when we consume sugar in the same way addictive drugs give you that hit. Nicole Avena’s writings and videos illustrate:

how receptors on the tongue trip off the brain to ping its reward system. A hit of the brain chemical dopamine signals, ‘Oh, that’s good.’ A warm fuzzy feeling ensues. And we want to do the thing that stimulated that feeling again. Addictive drugs such as cocaine, nicotine, alcohol and heroin also stimulate this ‘feels-good-do-it-again’ pathway. Our brains light up when we think about a treat or a ‘hit’. The wanting or craving sets it in motion, too. We may not realise it but we are in a relationship with the thing that makes us feel good, even if it damages us.

When your brain chemistry is out of whack, you self-medicate with alcohol, painkillers, street drugs, or the most socially-acceptable and readily available of all – sugar. Here is my contribution to the article:

‘We must understand why sugar affects our brain chemistry like addictive drugs. We may use sugar to concentrate better, feel calmer or get happy when we’re low.’ But, Trudy says, ‘If we get the right nutritional balance or take specific amino acid supplements, we can boost the needed neurotransmitters, so that cravings go away without requiring massive willpower or without feeling deprived.’ Her recipe? Supplements. ‘Tyrosine boosts dopamine for concentration, GABA makes you feel calmer, and tryptophan boosts serotonin for happiness.’ So, a trip to a qualified nutritionist might help us to stop drugging with sugar.

You can read Lisa’s entire article here. I really love how she describes our unhealthy relationship with sugar, how she discovered she was self-medicating with the stuff and of course, some of the other practical advice like yoga for stress reduction.

Let’s take a deeper look into the imbalanced brain chemistry and addictions or cravings. I see this all the time when you have low levels of any of the neurotransmitters and by addressing these low levels with targeted individual amino acids you really can end the sugar cravings without massive willpower or without feeling deprived. Low levels of dopamine, low serotonin, low GABA and even low blood sugar and low endorphins can be addressed in this way.

Let’s look at low endorphins. The big problem with low endorphins is comfort eating and emotional eating. It’s like: “This is my reward. This is my treat. I deserve it.” And when you consume carbohydrates or sugar like a bowl of ice cream, a bowl of cereal and milk, a chocolate chip cookie, you feel like “this is my reward. I deserve it.” The amino acid DPA boosts endorphins and ends this comfort and emotional eating and the sad, weepy mood we see with low endorphins improves too.

When it comes to low serotonin you are going to crave sugar and carbs in the afternoon and evening. And we will also have the low serotonin mood symptoms which are depression, the worry type of anxiety, the ruminating thoughts, the worry and the fear.

And if you’re looking for resources on how to use amino acids to make sugar cravings go away without massive willpower or without feeling deprived here is some additional information:

Taken orally it works to relax, calm, ease anxiety and social anxiety, quiet the mind, help with insomnia and sleeping better, reduces neck tension, removes uneasiness and worry, and gives hope (as you can read in the above blog post).

What I didn’t mention is that GABA can also reduce and often eliminate cravings totally.

Melissa discovered this was a wonderful side-benefit (we like side-benefits vs side-effects!) when she recently added Source Naturals GABA Calm in anticipation of holiday travel and holiday gatherings. She recently posted this comment on the above blog:

I’m glad I saw the post about GABA on your FB page a couple weeks ago, which led me to this article. I bought Source Naturals GABA Calm and have been taking 1-3 per day for two weeks. I’m glad I bought it before travelling home for Christmas – I was cool as a cucumber at the airport and was much calmer when visiting family and friends compared to last year! The true test of its efficacy will be in two weeks when the semester starts. For now, I notice a general calmness and am sleeping well.

An unexpected result was that I stopped craving sweets after about a week of taking it! I didn’t even realize this until I was grocery shopping and out of habit walked towards the ice cream – I stopped and realized I didn’t want ice cream. So I walked toward the chocolate – same reaction. For once in my life, I was not craving sweets. I made truffles for a NYE party and only ate two. But what is really shocking is that the leftovers are still in my refrigerator two days later and I haven’t touched them. I don’t understand what is going on! Can this be the GABA Calm (active ingredients: magnesium, GABA, Glycine, L-Tyrosine, Taurine)? I don’t think it’s the small amount of magnesium because I already do magnesium oil foot baths, so I suspect it’s one of the other ingredients.

Thanks so much for this article on GABA and recommendations

I love that she was calm during her travels, was much calmer when visiting family and friends compared to last year and is even sleeping better. And she is clearly delighted about the lack of sugar cravings!

Here are my answers to her question about those sugar cravings:

we can crave for many reasons and one reason can be due to low GABA levels

we stress eat (or drink more wine or other alcoholic beverages) when our GABA levels are low

by addressing the low GABA levels sugar cravings can disappear completely as in Melissa’s case (ice-cream, chocolates and truffles)

the GABA, glycine and taurine actively boost GABA, the magnesium is a co-factor for making GABA and the small amount of tyrosine counters the GABA so you don’t feel too relaxed

In many cases GABA can help partially and you may also need to address low serotonin (you’ll have afternoon/evening cravings), low dopamine (you crave sugar for focus and energy), low blood sugar (you are cranky and have an intense desire for something sweet) or low endorphins (you crave to self-soothe or comfort). Here is the amino acid questionnaire so you can figure out if you may have low levels of any of the above brain chemicals. If you are low, using the correlating amino acids can address both mood issues and cravings.

You may also need to address candida, dysbiosis or parasites as these factors can also cause sugar cravings since many “bugs” feed off sugar.

I always love to get feedback like this, so thanks to Melissa for sharing! It warms my heart to hear the impact nutrients can have and because I get to share stories like this to give others like you hope!

Update Dec 2016: I’ve written a number of blog posts on GABA since this was published. These hopefully address all the “how does GABA work? it can’t get through the blood brain barrier!” questions I am so often asked, and cover some of the research behind how effective this amino acid can be if your cravings, anxiety and insomnia have low GABA as a root cause:

I’m speaking at this fabulous event for women on April 11 – if you’re local come and join us! $35 includes presentations and buffet dinner (which starts at 4:45pm). Make an evening of it and bring a friend (or two or three)

The Secrets to Banishing Sugar Cravings and Having a Great Mood during Peri-menopause and Menopause

Are you stressed and overwhelmed? Do you have mood issues like anxiety, the blues, irritability, low self-esteem and obsessive tendencies? Do you have sugar or carbohydrate cravings? Do you eat sugar to calm down or eat sugar for energy? Do you eat sugar for comfort or as a reward? Do you have late afternoon and evening cravings? And have you ever considered that your mood, stressed-out feelings and cravings may be related?

You’ll learn the relationship between cravings and mood and the secrets to banish those sugar cravings, have a great mood and reduce stress. We’ll discuss the importance of eating real food and how much is enough protein (as well as avoiding problem foods like gluten) and more. You’ll also hear how to balance your neurotransmitters/brain chemistry, your hormones and address nutrient deficiencies with some pretty incredible nutrients – so you can feel on-top-of-the world during peri-menopause and menopause.

You’ll also have the opportunity to complete your own food-mood-cravings questionnaire, to provide you with insights to your own unique biochemistry. PS. This information is focused on peri-menopause and menopause but is applicable for younger women too.

This is going to be an amazing event to celebrate and support women. There’ll also be a short exercise session, a talk on total wellness for hormonal health, some fun surprises and gift raffles, as well as some great vendors with special offers just for you.